Unionized employees of the American manufacturer General Motors have agreed to ratify the agreement in principle on the new collective bargaining agreement, which was reached after more than six weeks of an unprecedented strike with the UAW union.
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About 55% of GM’s hourly paid employees have given the green light to the contract, which must last for the next four years, according to data posted Thursday on the United Auto Workers union’s website.
The other two major American manufacturers, Ford and Stellantis (Chrysler, Jeep), signed very similar agreements just a few days apart. The “yes” vote was clearly in the lead on Thursday, and only a few factories still had to make a decision.
All striking employees returned to work without waiting for the confirmations, as is generally the case.
Shawn Fain, the UAW president elected in the spring, launched a movement unprecedented in the organization’s ninety-year history by simultaneously launching a strike among Detroit’s Big Three.
When the strike began on September 15, 12,700 union members were employed in three factories. As the weeks went by, the strikes grew to mobilize more locations and more than 45,000 of the 146,000 UAW members who worked for the three manufacturers.
Specifically, the union called for a 40% pay increase over four years, in line with what the faction leaders have achieved over the past four years.
“Record profits mean record contracts,” Mr. Fain repeated again and again.
The agreements reached include, among other things, an increase in the basic salary of 25% over the four years of the collective agreement, measures to adjust the cost of living, social benefits and improvements for pensioners.
They also contain group-specific features, for example at Stellantis with regard to employment or the abandonment of the plan to close the Belvidere (Illinois) plant at General Motors.
In recent days, American media have reported that the final vote at GM could be unfavorable after the “no” vote from several important parties.